Letter 204: Theodore Studite, Letter 204; Greek heading: Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ.

I kept turning it over in idle musing: what would become of the brethren? And when, through the report of your letter, my child, I learned that they had been kept safe still, together with Hypatios as well (for this was the dispatch back from the former places of confinement), what need is there even to say how much I was cheered, how I took courage, how I gave thanks, how I exulted? For just as the blessed end of my holy Thaddaios has become a strength, not to me the lowly one alone, nor to you his brethren alone, but to the whole Church, so too is the manly endurance and perseverance of those who are still contending in the struggle, just as the contrary acts contrariwise. There is, then, the God who gives power for them also to contend most nobly in what lies ahead, and indeed for us along with them; for they ran and conquered, even if not for all time, since one does not know what the times hereafter will bring forth, whereas we are only at the stage of preparation, not yet having run. Therefore I remind, I exhort, I grovel [at your feet] that through you all may be made ready, having trained themselves on account of the sudden seizure [the abrupt arrest that may come at any moment]. No one who stands at the joining of battle is free of care, nor quarrels, nor is dissipated, nor plays the buffoon, nor [...], nor treads on empty air; but what does he do? He keeps watch, he prays, he closes ranks, he grapples even before the grappling, he thrusts away the desires, he is content with self-sufficient sustenance, he holds himself loose from the world, from life, from his own body, and reckons all things, according to the Apostle [Paul, Philippians 3:8], to be refuse for Christ's sake. You know what the lowly Lucian has suffered, to pass over speaking of the others who seemed to be something? How he has fallen, how he has come under the hand (alas for me to say it) of the emperor, or rather of the devil? I beseech you, pray concerning me, that the power of Christ, in which lies the victory, may take up its dwelling upon me, the prodigal, the feeble, the useless one; since, He says, apart from me you can do nothing [John 15:5]. These same things I too ask concerning you with tears every day. Yes, I beseech you, make yourselves ready, put on your breastplates, rouse yourselves up, having the Lord as your champion and shield-bearer, who will surely save the one who believes; do you believe, He says, that I am able to do this? And they said: Yes, Lord. And He: Go, as you have believed, let it be done for you [Matthew 9:28-29]; and they obtained what they sought. May this be so now also for us the lowly. Show the letter, my brother, to those who hold the foremost place, and indeed above all you who have been sent on from within [released from the inner prison] by the emperor were the safer ones; and may the Lord be with you. Amen.